White Farmers Under Siege Right Now In Nyazura

Robert "The Solution"Mugabe, who is officially on leave, was at the swearing-in ceremony for President Guebuza of Mozambique yesterday (photo above). Meantime, his friends and allies were busy kicking tobacco farmers off their lands, having waited until now, when the the tobacco is ready for harvesting and curing before pouncing. It is plunder and pillage, no question about it.



Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 January 2010

In a shocking and naked case of pure and unbridled greed, plunder and pillage, two senior ZANU PF members, one a Government minister, have gone about "evicting'' seven of the remaining white farmers in the Nyazura area of Manicaland province in order to harvest the farmers' tobacco crop, which is now just maturing.


Didymus Mutasa, Mugabe's minister in charge of the Secret Police, the Central Intelligence Organisation, is believed to be behind the move, which is being masterminded by Themba Mliswa, who has also been causing havoc for years now in Mugabe's own home province.

Mliswa, a former sports agent who was deported from Britain some years ago, is also a tobacco merchant through his company, Saltlakes. Which betrays why he has now moved all the way from the Chinhoyi and Chegutu areas, where he is based (and is on the other side of the country) to Manicaland Province.

His intentions are made clear by the fact that he has targeted only tobacco farms where a good crop has already matured.

Yesterday, one of the white farmers I spoke to, Mr Landos (who, as it happens, speaks fluent Shona), said he had been told by the leader of the group which invaded his farm, a man called Bicycle, to vacate his property immediately. Bicycle is also the same man who has been leading gangs of marauding invaders in Chegutu and Chinhoyi and was behind the harassment of the Campbells and Ben Freeth.

Farmer Landos had started packing his things when genuine War Veterans from his area showed up at his farm and addressed the invaders, telling them that the Landos family has been in the Nyazura area for more than 80 years and had never caused problems for the community. If anything, they get along very well with the communal people, and are always at the forefront of helping out when the community needed help.

The genuine War Vets of Nyazura also told the invaders that if they wanted to start a fight, then battle would be joined. As a result of this, the invaders left and when I spoke to Landos, the genuine War Vets had moved to another farm where some more invaders were gathered. They had gone there to deliver the same message.

Landos is also part of the group of white Zimbabwean farmers who secured a Southern African Development Community ruling in their favour, together with the Campbells, whose farmhouse was recently burnt to the ground. His farm had been allocated to Themba Mliswa's brother, but he had not only managed to get SADC Tribunal ruling on his side, but had also managed to negotiate with Dumisani Mliswa, who appears not to have had the resources to farm his new farm.

The police in Nyazura, according to the farmers, were called in but could do nothing to help them. If anything, they are said to have appeared submissive and deferential to the invaders and it took only the Nyazura War Vets to get the invaders to move off.

What is shocking is the naked greed of Mliswa and his people, who are clearly targeting the tobacco farms only, readying themselves to move in and harvest a crop that they never sowed, fertilised nor tended to.

Landos' arrangement with Dumisani Mliswa, was that Mliswa, who had no resources to farm the area, would supply diesel and a couple of tractors in return for a share in the proceeds from the farm.

But a few days ago, Dumisani came back to Landos all crestfallen, saying his brother had told him that he should not be making deals with white people and should instead just take the land and the crops on it.

This is really going too far.

And Mugabe and his people are surprised that the world says there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe?

And the Prime Minister, together with the MDC-Tsvangirai? They are looking on and folding their hands while this is happening?

Certainly, it is clear now, as I have told you before, that Tsvangirai has taken to heart Mugabe's advice that if he wants a look-in as far as power is concerned, he should leave the Land Reform process alone. The Generals and the Army, Tsvangirai was told by his Solution, Mugabe, were against him only because they thought that he was on the side of the whites whom these War Veterans fought in the 1970s.

To Tsvangirai, therefore, it is easier to leave these people to swing in the wind in order that he may be allowed to continue in power and perhaps eventually be saluted by the Generals.

But he does not know the people he is dealing with. As Ian Smith used to say: "They come to you with demands, you meet them and they take that concession, tuck it under their belt before coming back with more outrageous demands."

Tsvangirai will never be able to assuage them. They are stringing him along and in the process, destroying the Prime Minister's credibility with the forces of democracy in Zimbabwe. The wider world is still clueless, cheering on Tsvangirai and swallowing the tripe that he is sabotaged by Mugabe. The Prime Minister is a willing participant in the charade that is going on in Zimbabwe today, all out of pure power hunger.



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